Lorehaven Bound: A Hunger Pangs Short

By Joy Demorra

A train ride through the Nevrondian countryside should be a calming proposition, but for Ursula, it isn't. Her thoughts swirl, fixated on one thing... make that two things. Specifically Nathan Northland and Vlad Blutstein. It's not just because they are both breath-stealingly attractive—although to be fair, that doesn't hurt. It's because they surprised her, and Ursula is very rarely surprised.

Even more confounding is her reaction to them, particularly the vampire, Vlad. Just what is she supposed to do about these... feelings?

All Ursula knows is that she doesn't have time for emotions right now. Not when the fate of the world is at stake. She can deal with this later. First, she's got to figure out what story she's going to tell the sure-to-be-furious Alfbern. Then, she needs catch up on all the sleep she missed before hitting the road again. Surely, she can do those things while being Lorehaven Bound.

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This story is a 10,000-word character study/missing moment that takes place immediately after Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites. You will want to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled for the events in that book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Humerus Intentions Publishing LLC
• Release date: Oct 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223846994

Joy Demorra

Joy is a Scottish born author, editor, social activist and chronic illness and disability advocate currently manifesting in the American Midwest with her cryptid husband and their large adopted Internet family. When not collapsed in a heap of glitter and defiant hope, Joy can generally be found hiding somewhere behind a keyboard writing paranormal-pun-filled romances, usually about vampires, werewolves and all other manner of creatures that go bump in the night.

Book preview

Lorehaven Bound

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Joy Demorra

Copyright © 2023 Humerus Intentions Publishing LLC

All rights reserved.

Cover by RoseLark Publishing www.roselarkpublishing.com

Formatting by RoseLark Publishing www.roselarkpublishing.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A train ride through the Nevrondian countryside should be a calming proposition, but for Ursula, it isn't. Her thoughts swirl, fixated on one thing... make that two things. Specifically Nathan Northland and Vlad Blutstein. It's not just because they are both breath-stealingly attractive—although to be fair, that doesn't hurt. It's because they surprised her, and Ursula is very rarely surprised.

Even more confounding is her reaction to them, particularly the vampire, Vlad. Just what is she supposed to do about these... feelings?

All Ursula knows is that she doesn't have time for emotions right now. Not when the fate of the world is at stake. She can deal with this later. First, she's got to figure out what story she's going to tell the sure-to-be-furious Alfbern. Then, she needs catch up on all the sleep she missed before hitting the road again. Surely, she can do those things while being Lorehaven Bound.

*

This story is a 10,000-word character study/missing moment that takes place immediately after Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites. You will want to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled for the events in that book.

*

For content warnings, please check out my website.

CHAPTER ONE

A Short Time Later (Still 1888)

Steam trains, Ursula decided, were all right—once you got used to the swaying and the clacking, that is. It was a bit like being on a boat. A noisy, coal-guzzling boat that clanked across miles and miles of countryside, turning the scenery into a blur. The journey would almost be soothing were she not running on sheer adrenaline. Fidgeting restlessly, Ursula let her gaze unfocus. It’d been less than an hour since she’d embarked on her eight-hour journey back to Lorehaven, and already boredom was setting in. Fraught as the journey down had been, she’d at least had someone to talk to. She almost regretted not taking Nathan up on his offer to escort her back to the safety of the Ironwoods, though Ursula knew she’d made the right decision in telling him to stay in Ingleton. She needed time to process everything that had happened. And, more importantly, she needed to get her guard back up before Alfbern could sink his claws into her. That couldn’t happen if one Captain Nathan J. Northland was with